Courtesy: Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders will make history on Saturday, becoming the first CFL team to broadcast a game in a pair of Chinese dialects.
In honour of Heritage Night, the team’s Week 10 meeting with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be available for radio listeners in two alternative language broadcasts. Radio Sur Sangam on 94.7 FM will carry the action in Punjabi for the second straight year, while play-by-play in Cantonese and Mandarin will be available on the FeverSports YouTube channel.
Exact details of the broadcast, including how the two dialects will be balanced, have not yet been disclosed.
Alternative language broadcasts have become a popular way for CFL teams to reach new fan demographics in the past few years, with the Edmonton Elks and B.C. Lions both making their games available in Punjabi all season long. Edmonton and Calgary have each sponsored specific Indigenous language broadcasts as well, with calls provided in Cree and Blackfoot for special games.
According to the 2021 census, Mandarin is the third most spoken language in Canada behind English and French, but ahead of Punjabi. 987,300 Canadians speak China’s official language in some capacity, with more than half a million citizens using it as their primary language at home. Another 724,925 speak the dialect of Cantonese, which is far more common amongst third-generation Chinese-Canadians and beyond. It is the main form of communication in just under 400,000 households.
The Calgary Stampeders (5-3) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-3) on Saturday, August 9 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. The Blue Bombers are coming off a close win over Toronto, while Calgary got crushed by the Redblacks 31-11.
The weather forecast in Calgary calls for a high of 21 degrees and a 60 percent chance of showers. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada, CBS Sports Network in the United States, and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners seeking an English broadcast can tune in on 680 CJOB in Winnipeg and 770 CHQR in Calgary.